


Exactly what you are

by Ptolemia



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Post episode 5, and i refuse to be ashamed of it, honestly at this point i am an unstoppable force of total ridiculousness, this fic is a syrupy monstrosity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-02 01:26:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5228609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ptolemia/pseuds/Ptolemia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys is kinda insecure! Vaughn is kinda insecure!! Yvette wants them to talk it out, and so they do.</p><p>And by 'talk it out' I mean 'they kiss' which... is kinda the same thing...... right??</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exactly what you are

**Author's Note:**

> hey its me back again with YET ANOTHER 'this is how Vaughn and Rhys get together and it is ADORABLE' fic ft. Yvette cameo and unnecessary mentions of Vasquez because I love him too much to let go
> 
> i am nothing if not wildly predictable.
> 
> the title for this is a lyric from kiss the sky because, again, ive given up on trying to do anything new and am just embracing the fact that my comfort zone is fluff with song lyric titles like...... thats who i am, as a person. and im ok with that.
> 
> w/r/t other fic ive written, this is in some ways the alt. version of retrograde - there's not a lot in the way of parallels or anything but it's relevant in that that was more sorta my thoughts on the reunion if they were already together pre ep. 5, and this is for a canon where they weren't together during the events of the game

Rhys watches everyone settle into their new lives in a kind of vague daze – the whole thing is so surreal that he feels vaguely detached from it, still. Almost as though it's happening to somebody else. The whole thing with the vault kind of threw him, of course, but even after him and Fiona got back things seem... strange. He can't quite put his finger on it. There's something kind of weird about seeing all these familiar faces in a new place, living different lives. He's glad to be back with his friends of course – with Fiona and Sasha, and Yvette, who he hasn't had a proper chat with in way too long, and Vaughn, who... well. Who is currently shirtless, and covered in a light sheen of sweat, demonstrating wood-chopping techniques to an unusually interested looking group of ex-Hyperion interns.

 

“Admiring the view?” says Yvette, who appears to have retained her uncanny ability for sneaking up and scaring the ever-loving shit out of Rhys.

“Argh!” he says, and then tries to recover some of his dignity, with very little success, “Oh, hey, Yvette, I was uh...”

“Blatantly staring?”

“That- you know, Yvette, that's quite the assumption. I really think you-”

“With your mouth wide open.”

“Oh, and so you just assume-”

“Pretty sure you were drooling a bit.”

“Ok, now, that's definitely a lie. I wasn't... it wasn't that kind of staring, anyway.”

Yvette snorts. “Oh, sure.”

“It wasn't!”

“But you admit you were staring?”

“I never- aw, c'mon, that's not playing fair. You tricked me.”

“Yeah,” says Yvette, rolling her eyes, “Into telling the truth.”

“That's... I mean... I guess.”

She beams. “Gotcha!”

“Yeah yeah, if you say so.”

Her grin turns slightly sly. “So, you're appreciating the new look, huh?”

 

Rhys sighs, and glances over at Vaughn, who appears to have been cajoled into an arm-wrestling match with Athena, much to the delight of the cluster of interns he had been talking to. “You know, this is the second time today I've been asked that.”

Yvette tuts. “What, somebody beat me to it? Damn. Who?”

“Fiona.”

“Huh. Well, that's perceptive of her. Maybe she's not just a pretty face.”

“Yeah, first off, she's not all that, and secondly she can't be _that_ perceptive, because she was asking about Sasha, not Vaughn.”

“What?”

Rhys throws his hands in the air. “I know! I mean, all I did was I mention to Sasha that her new hair suited her and suddenly I have Her Royal Mightiness the High Inquisitor Fiona on my ass doing some kind of 'what exactly do you want with my sister you horrid little man' spiel. Again.”

“And what did you say?”

“I said, Fiona, right now I _really_ want to scrounge some of that bagel off her, and in the future maybe I want to step it up a notch and learn where she got the bagel from so I can get them myself.”

Yvette pretends to wipe away a tear, and pats Rhys affectionately on the shoulder. “Ah, spoken like a true protégé of mine. But I feel like you're maybe trying to avoid the subject a little, hmm?”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“Yes you do.”

“... yes I do.”

“Well?”

 

Rhys shrugs. “Vaughn... also has new hair. It's nice.”

“And?”

“I would definitely try to scrounge a bagel off him if I saw him in possession of one.”

“And?”

“Yvette, look, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but it won't work.”

“Well, why the hell not? You two have been making eyes at each other since before I even knew you, I swear, and you can't even bring yourself to talk about it? I don't get you, Rhys, I really don't.”

Rhys sighs. “Look at him, ok? He's finally got it sorted. He's standing around shirtless and he's got a dozen people hanging off his every word and he's cool with it! He's happy! Like, he's finally realised how awesome he is and-”

“And? How is that a problem?”

 

Rhys turns on her, with slightly more fire in his voice than he was probably intending. “So you think he needs some dead-weight washed up failure with a bunch of faulty tech still stuck in his fucking head to- to what? To drag him down? I'm not going to do that to him. Even if he wanted me to, which-”

“Rhys,” breathes Yvette, “Oh, you goddamn dumbass piece of- come here,” she holds her arms out, “C'mon, we're hugging it out.”

“You really don't need to-”

“Yes, I do. Get your scrawny ass over here and hug me.”

 

Rhys sighs, and submits to being hugged. “Yvette, it's fine.”

“You don't really believe that shit, Rhys, do you?”

He says nothing.

Yvette takes a step back so she can put her hands on his shoulders and fix him with a stern glare. “Now, you listen to me. Vaughn is doing good. It's great, and we're happy for him. But you're also doing good, right? I mean, look at you, with your swanky new arm and your pretty suit, Mr CEO of Atlas. You're a catch.”

“I... yeah, it's not, uh, exactly that simple.”

“No?”

“The whole thing with Atlas is a mess. I mean, I have the rights, sure, and some broken down old machinery, but it was just me back at the old facility, and-”

Yvette raises an eyebrow. “I could have sworn you said 'we' when you were talking about it before.”

Rhys looks down at his feet. “Yeah, me and, uh. Jack.”

She narrows her eyes. “You sure the fuck better not have-”

“No! No. Not like that.”

“Then what-”

“I used to... talk to him. Oh god, that sounds even worse when I say it out loud. Not- not- he's gone. I mean, the real him is gone. Well, the hologram real him, which- anyway. It was just me, you know, and I had to bandage myself up and, and build a new arm and – I don't know. Sometimes it was kind of nice to have somebody to _talk_ to, at least, even if he was a dick. And also imaginary. Uh. Yeah, this sounds weird.”

 

Yvette puts her arm back round his waist with uncharacteristic gentleness. “Rhys, it sounds like you had a real shitty time of it, and you dealt with it as best you could. And nobody's expecting you to resurrect Atlas in six months on your own! It's gonna take time, but you'll get there, I know you will.”

“I'm not so sure.”

“Well, then you'll always have us. If there's one thing I've got out of all this bullshit that's happened since you stole that money, it's that friends are definitely more important than, say, the cool million bucks and a nice promotion that Vasquez offered to-”

“A million? Seriously? I thought you got offered five, at least.”

“Yeah, I got offered seven. I said I'd take one if they bought you both back alive.”

“Oh, well, that's-”

“Still me getting offered money to sell you out. But I digress. The point is, it doesn't matter what the hell you think you can bring to the table, Vaughn still thinks the sun shines out of your ass.”

“But he-”

“Also thinks he's not worthy of you. He has for years, Rhys, and it's been kinda sucky for him so... don't you start.”

“It's not the same-”

“Yes, it is.” She rolls her eyes. “Urgh, why do I bother. You're both idiots.”

Rhys has to smile at that. “Oh? And what does that make you.”

“Long-suffering,” grumbles Yvette, “Very goddamn long-suffering.”

 

*****

 

Rhys, for the most part, ignores Yvette's advice, much to her chagrin. In fairness, what with how busy everyone is, him and Vaughn hardly get a moment alone in any case. When they finally do get a chance to slip away from the ruins of Helios for a few minutes peace, though, Rhys can't help but wish that he _did_ have the guts to bring the whole thing up – and then he doesn't have to, because Vaughn does.

 

They've wandered out into the desert a little way to watch the sunset, perching themselves on a rocky outcrop which is mostly free of skag dung and mysterious bone fragments. Vaughn, who has been talking a mile a minute since they ducked out of Yvette's 'compulsory food distribution discussion meeting' to actually catch a moment to themselves after all those months apart, looks slightly antsy, which is unusual enough these days that it catches Rhys' attention.

“I mean, hey," he says, "It's- well, you know that thing where you're like, ha, no, that's never gonna happen, but then you're like... well, maybe... uh. You know?”  
“I don't-” Rhys begins.

Vaughn shakes his head. “I just- I guess there's, uh... you know how you have these, these sort of big plans, right?”

Rhys grins ruefully, “Well, I used to.”

“Yeah, right, but- I mean, you get what I'm saying? You have these ideas of, like, how it's all gonna turn out, right? And mostly you just sorta think, well, that's a nice idea but it's not... I mean there's stuff that doesn't. Doesn't really happen.”

“Uh, I guess?”

“Like, say, uh, for example... just for a totally random example not related to anything, say if you, uh,” Vaughn clears his throat, and it's kind of hard to tell under the suntan and all that beard but Rhys is pretty sure he's blushing a little, “I mean, say you liked somebody. Right?”

“Right.”

“And maybe you always assumed they wouldn't ever- that it was just- I mean, you know, if they were way, way too cool for you and-”

 

Rhys is taking, tops, maybe thirty percent of this in. He gazes down at Vaughn, who carries on babbling away, flapping his hands and furrowing his brow and looking so achingly familiar Rhys could cry. Happy tears, though. Happy tears. Because alright, he's got a little more confident (hot) and grown a beard (hot) and a man-bun (begrudgingly, also hot), but he's still got the same smile, and the same laugh, and the same dumb little crease he gets above his nose when he's thinking really hard about something. Rhys remembers all those things from back in college, for fuck's sake, when Vaughn had an even dorkier pair of glasses than his latest set, and enough puppy-fat that he'd always end up stretching Rhys' tshirts when he stole them because he couldn't be bothered to do his own laundry. Rhys had never quite managed to bring himself to care about that, though, since it left him with a wardrobe full of shirts which smelled vaguely of Vaughn. Who, he thinks, he should probably pay more attention to, since he's still talking. Oops.

“- and, like, remember when we used to go to that shitty bar round the corner from the dorms,” says Vaughn, still babbling nervously and waving his hands about, “and it was awful but it was kind of great too, because we were both there, and- I mean, this isn't relevant, really, just... if you liked somebody, right-”

“Vaughn,” murmurs Rhys.

“- and if that person was- oh, uh, sorry, did you say something?”

Rhys smiles. “God, you haven't changed at all.”

Vaughn sighs, deflating slightly under Rhys' gaze. “Right. Yeah. Thanks.”

“Oh, wait- I mean, no, dude, of course you've changed, it's just, y'know, I've known you so long and I still always-”

“You'll still always see the fat kid with the bad glasses who you had the bad luck to end up rooming with, huh?”

“Uh, you mean the best luck ever, dude.”

“Sure, fine. Still a fat kid with glasses,” mutters Vaughn, looking surprisingly bitter for a moment. “Forget it.”

 

Rhys has a brief moment where he fervently wishes it was appropriate to just call Yvette in social situations and get her to explain exactly what the hell is going on. But he can't, so instead he reaches out and squeezes Vaughn's hand and says, softly, “Hey, Vaughn?”

“Mmm?”

“For what it's worth, I thought you were awesome.”

Vaughn raises an eyebrow. “Thought?”

Rhys elbows him. “Still do, dumbass.”

Vaughn smiles back at him, then shakes his head, and leans up against his shoulder with a little sigh. “Oh, this isn't _fair_.”

“What's not fair?”

Vaughn hesitates for a moment, tracing circles on Rhys' palm with the tips of his fingers. “So, remember when Sasha did the whole thing with the detonator, and then the Guardian collapsed, and she was bleeding, and we all thought she was going to die?”

“Uh... yeah? What about it?”

“Well, you were there trying to, uh, cry healing tears-”  
“Not my proudest hour, retrospectively.”

Vaughn snorts. “Probably not. But anyway, you wanted to think it would be fine so bad, and, well, we all did, I guess. But I couldn't _believe_ it.”

“Neither did she.”

“No, and she said that whole thing about- about it not being that kind of story. Which I guess is what I was getting at, you know? You might want to believe in, I don't know, fairytales and healing tears and happily ever after, but in reality-”

“But she's fine! It all turned out good.”

 

Vaughn hesitates. “Right. Yeah. Magic watch. Which... is kind of what got me thinking.”

“Oh?”

“Like, what if it _is_ that kind of story? I've gone my whole life thinking that nothing's ever really going to work out, that- that that's a stupid thing to think, that happily ever after happens to other people. But what if...”

Rhys, not quite daring to hope that this is actually going where he thinks it's going, puts a hand gently on Vaughn's shoulder. Their knees knock together slightly. “What if...?”

“Um.”

“Um?”

“I mean, what- what if it is? What if it _is_ that kind of story and we- and I could- what if I could just do something like-” He cuts himself off, and shakes his head.

Rhys is suddenly aware of how close they are. He could practically count Vaughn's eyelashes. “You could do what, bro?”

“This,” whispers Vaughn.

And then he tilts his head up a fraction and kisses Rhys.

Rhys doesn't respond for a moment - he's still kind of trying to get his brain up to speed on the fact that this is happening, holy shit, this is- Vaughn is actually- they're-

 

And then Vaughn pulls back so fast he practically jumps, and makes a startled squeaking noise like he can't believe he just did that, either. “Oh my god,” he says, “I am- Rhys, shit, I'm so sorry, that totally seemed like a good idea and it- well, you remember that time I stuck my hand in the toaster to see what would happen and then I got third degree burns, well, this is kinda-”

“I remember dragging your dumb ass to hospital at 3am because Yvette was laughing too hard to help me carry you, yeah.”

Vaughn laughs nervously. “Right, right, so if you could just forget about-”

“Dude. Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously! I get that you're not interested, I get it, I just had a momentary lapse of-”

“I am.”

“What?”

“Interested.”

“ _What?_ ”

Rhys takes Vaughn's hands in his and sighs. “Honestly bro, I kinda figured you weren't... well, I dunno. You must have better offers.”

“Better- better offers? Are you messing with me, bro, because that would be so many levels of not cool. I mean, _better offers_? In what universe-”

“Have you seen yourself lately, dude? I mean, do you ever look in a mirror?”

 

Vaughn is definitely blushing now, brushing his hair out of his eyes with a confused shrug. “Ok so, sure, maybe I- I mean _physically_ speaking- I... yeah, you know what, I'm not gonna deny that one. I'm pretty hot.”

Rhys beams. “See? I knew you'd come round. Like, bro, how many years have I been saying that to you?”

“It wasn't true when you started saying it.”

“Well, I thought it was.”

“And I don't _feel_...” he sighs. “I don't know. I guess sometimes it all makes sense, and I feel like I can cope with being in charge of people, and I'm like, yeah, hey, I'm confident, I'm doing good now. But just now and again I... I still feel like the fat kid with the bad glasses, I guess?”

Rhys smiles. “I know. And half the time I still feel like a lanky dork with acne. And braces.” He shudders. “Oh god, those braces. Urgh.”

Vaughn laughs, “They were pretty awful, actually.”

“They were horrific. I still have nightmares about them, I swear.” Rhys smiles as Vaughn puts a hand round his waist and grins up at him, and then he feels his mouth go a little dry because, well, Vaughn's face is pretty close to his face, and last time this happened- “Uh, so,” he says, tripping over his words a little, “So, about the, uh, the kissing thing- is that- I mean, can we-”

Vaughn's breath hitches slightly. “Sure, that would be... yeah. I mean. If you want to, bro?”

“I- yeah. That would be- yup.”

“Good.”

“Cool.”

“Awesome.”

“Right. So we could just...”

 

There's a long pause. Rhys looks at Vaughn. Vaughn looks at Rhys. Then they start giggling, a little bit uncontrollably, and they both end up red-faced and wheezing, noses touching, arms wrapped around each other.

“Why- why are we laughing, again?” says Rhys, after a minute.

“Because...” says Vaughn, and then he shrugs. “Um, nerves? I guess? And,well, I'm... uh, pretty happy. Like, very happy.”

Rhys beams at that, and brushes Vaughn's cheek with his thumb. “Yeah. Me too.”

“Nervous, or happy?”

“Oh, uh... both, I think?”

Vaughn laughs, and kisses Rhys' nose. “What do you have to be nervous about, huh? I mean, look at you.”

“Pfft, more like what do _you_ have to be nervous about? You're pretty much perfect, like-”

“Stop, Rhys, c'mon, you're making me blush.”

“No, I won't stop, I'm-”

 

And then Rhys does stop, because Vaughn is kissing him again, properly this time, and all he can do is kiss back and tug Vaughn close and grin up against his mouth. On the far horizon, the sun has set, but neither of them seem to care.

“I mean it, though," says Rhys, after a while, managing to mumble the words out between kisses, “I thought you were awesome back in college, and I thought you were awesome on Helios, and I think you're awesome now, and I will, I'll always- even when you're old and wrinkly and your beard's gone grey, dude.”

Vaughn smiles, and kisses the corner of his jaw, just under his ear. “That a promise?”

“Yes,” says Rhys, and turns his head to catch Vaughn's mouth again, trembling hands running over his thighs.

“And you're gonna keep it?” says Vaughn, brushing the tips of his fingers along the exposed patch of skin where Rhys' shirt has come untucked from his pants.

Rhys shivers a little, and brings his hand up to touch Vaughn's cheek again and says, “ _Yes._ ”

 

And he does.

 


End file.
